http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/sto...des-thon-maker-stanley-johnson-work-new-teams Trade grades: Will Maker, Johnson work with new teams? The deal Pistons get: Thon Maker Bucks get: Stanley Johnson Detroit Pistons: C Tuesday night, when the Pistons dealt starting small forward Reggie Bullock to the Los Angeles Lakers, I suspected something bigger was afoot. Now that seems like a virtual certainty. In the past 24 hours, Detroit has traded both rotation small forwards, leaving them with Glenn Robinson III and smaller lineups with shooting guards playing out of position. Again, from strictly a value proposition this deal makes sense. Johnson will be a restricted free agent this summer and re-signing him doesn't seem to be in the Pistons' plans. This way, Detroit gets an extra year of Maker's rookie contract to see whether he can develop into a contributor. Here's the concern with Maker: If he couldn't play for the Bucks, who value spacing out of their center more than perhaps any other team in the league, can he play for the Pistons? Part of the issue, of course, is that since Maker hit 38 percent of his 74 3-point attempts as a rookie, he has made just 31 percent over the past season and a half -- not good enough to truly challenge defenses ill-equipped to defend stretch-5s. Maker is now at 33 percent this season and in his career beyond the arc, which probably reflects his current ability. To be a useful floor spacer, Maker probably needs to get that up to around league average, which is between 35 and 36 percent. One positive development this season has been Maker cutting out long 2s from his shooting diet under Mike Budenholzer's direction. Non-paint 2-point attempts made up 24 percent of Maker's shot attempts in 2017-18, per NBA Advanced Stats. He has taken just five such shots all this season, or 3.7 percent of his attempts. At the other end, Maker's rebounding has always been a concern. He's grabbing a career-high 19 percent of available defensive boards this season, which is still far worse than the league average for a center (23.5 percent). As his Cleaning the Glass stats page reflects, Milwaukee has rebounded far worse with Maker on the court the past two seasons. Like the Bullock trade, this swap saves Detroit some money this season -- about $1.1 million, which is relevant because the Pistons started so close to the luxury tax. Milwaukee Bucks: C- A Maker deal comes as no surprise after his representative told the Bucks last month he wanted to be traded, as reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Since then, Milwaukee has apparently been shopping Maker for wings on expiring deals. Johnson does fill something of a need for the Bucks, who didn't really have a physical wing defender to match up in the playoffs with Kawhi Leonard and, if they reach the NBA Finals, Kevin Durant. Of course, that didn't stop them from winning two of the three matchups with the Toronto Raptors in which Leonard played, and splitting with the Golden State Warriors. Leonard averaged 22 PPG in those meetings, but shot just 43 percent from the field, including 7-of-20 in last week's Milwaukee win in Toronto. For what it's worth, Durant also struggled against the Bucks this season, scoring 28 points on 9-of-29 shooting in two games. On an offense that has surrounded Giannis Antetokounmpo with as many shooters as possible, Johnson doesn't fit in. He's a career 29 percent 3-point shooter who has shown no discernable improvement in this regard during four NBA seasons. Ultimately, I suspect Johnson won't have much of a role for Milwaukee in the postseason. The Bucks will then face an interesting choice whether to give Johnson the $4.5 million qualifying offer necessary to make him a restricted free agent. That overvalues Johnson, even on a one-year deal.
https://twitter.com/malika_andrews Giannis Antetokounmpo said that Thon Maker informed him that he had been traded. Giannis said that no matter where Maker plays, the two will remain close. They texted after tonight's game. "He was the heart and soul of this team...He is going to be a great player in this league." More Giannis on Thon Maker: "Obviously, he requested the trade, but I think Thon is young and what his people did -- it was just to make the team play him a little bit more. But the team decided to move on and make this move. It is tough. But it is the business we work in." And lastly (and perhaps most importantly?) Thon Maker controlled the aux cord in the Bucks' locker room. That role is now vacant. Sterling Brown may be the heir apparent.
